"What are you guys doing here?" Silena asked, setting our beverages down. A different waitress had taken our order first, but Silena ended up taking her place.

"We had a late night studying," Annabeth explained.

Silena raised her eyebrow. "Alrighty, cuties. Do you know what you want?"

I looked at Annabeth, who shrugged.

"You can choose," she told me.

"Can we get a medium loaded pizza?" I requested.

Silena smiled. "That's Charlie's favorite," she commented. "I'll go take care of this."

I watched her leave the main area of the parlor. I could tell how much the concept of love fascinated Silena, and how she felt about my good friend Beckendorf. I thought about how their relationship had started. Beckendorf had taken a risk, and he was rewarded with a lovely girlfriend.

I suddenly regretted not taking a bigger leap of faith. Why didn't I specify how I felt about my best friend right when I asked her to go to the Spring Fling with me? Why was I so cowardly?

I lifted my gaze from the closed kitchen door and brought them to Annabeth's face. Her grey eyes were already focused on my own, making my cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"What's wrong?" she asked curiously.

I shook my head. "Nothing."

She furrowed her eyebrows. Her lips parted, but she pressed them together firmly, leaving the situation be.

"So, four more days till Spring Fling," I mentioned.

Annabeth grinned. "I'm genuinely excited. You?"

I nodded. "Why wouldn't I be? I get to hang out with my favorite people for a few hours, eat food, and listen to some music. It's all a guy like me could need."

She scrunched up her little button nose, a very cute gesture that I wish she did more often. "I don't think I'm going to like the music much."

"Yeah?"

"Haven't you been to a dance before, Perce? It's all trashy pop music and gooey lovey songs."

I had never been to a proper school dance before. The only one I did go to, the eighth grade winter formal, I spent the entire time goofing off with my small friend group of the time. I never had gone to one with people I really liked, at a good school.

Technically, I had only been going to the same school as Annabeth for two years, freshman and sophomore. The other two years I had known her were spent at awful private schools that never seemed to want me back.

Annabeth reached across the table to lightly smack my arm. "You haven't, have you, Seaweed Brain?"

I shook my head. "How do you feel, Wise Girl? You're my first ever date to a dance."

I wiggled my eyebrows, trying to distract myself from the fact I had just thrown that out there.

"I thought we were just going as friends," she stated.

Oh, shoot.

"If you're going with me," I said quickly, "you're basically my date. It just isn't r-romantic."

She nodded with a small smile on her face. "Okay."

Silena whirled over with our pizza. "Here you guys go. Enjoy."

"Oh, I will," I reassured, staring at the pizza. It stayed true to its name, and was absolutely loaded with every pizza topping, scattered all over in a very appetizing manner.

Silena giggled and twirled a strand of dark hair around her finger. "So, I heard you two were going to the Spring Fling together."

"Who told you?" I asked.

"My mom. She said you guys went to her dress shop and that she couldn't handle the adorableness."

"Aphrodite is your mom?" Annabeth asked.

"Yep," she replied. "I know I don't seem like a typical girly girl, because I'm not overly obsessive with fashion and love and all of that. I guess I just am more subtle than my sister, Lacy. But I do love love."

I smiled. "What a wonderful thing to love, huh?"

Silena smiled playfully. "Glad to know you're a sensitive one, Percy. Keep him close, Annabeth. I'll see you two around, the pizza's on me."

She left before I could even say thank you. I reminded myself to tell Beckendorf to thank her later.

"That was nice," Annabeth told me.

I nodded. "Yeah. Want to dig in?"

We both reached for the same slice, and then we both recoiled at the same time. I laughed.

"You can have that one," I told her.

She smiled. "So gracious, Seaweed Brain."

I rested my elbow on the table and held my palm straight up. "It's one of my qualities, you know?"

We kept on chatting and eating delicious pizza for almost an hour. I couldn't think of anyone else I would have rather been with. I couldn't think of anyone else I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, may it be romantically or platonically.

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Annabeth squealed. "Perseus Jackson, put me down this instant!" she whispered viciously.

I laughed and laid her on my bed. "Do you need clothes?" I asked.

She stared at me with a blank face and gestured to her clothes. She was wearing tight jeans and a red plaid tank top that had buttons lining the front. I knew for a fact that sleeping in skinny jeans was right up there with turning the shower on too cold and putting your hand on a hot stove.

"I'll grab you something from my closet," I offered, walking over. 

Normally I would grab something of my mom's, but Annabeth and I had gotten back from our late night pizza excursion past one o'clock in the morning, and I didn't want too disturb her. Instead, I grabbed an old pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt. I grabbed some sweatpants of my own, before turning back and tossing her her clothes and leaving to change.

I went into the bathroom and changed from my jeans and top to my pants. Sadly our small heat wave had left, but I was sure it would return soon, seeing as the first day of summer was just over a month away.

I returned to my bedroom, tapping lightly on the door.

"Come in," said Annabeth's soft voice.

I turned the knob and wandered inside, closing the door behind me.

I took in my best friend's appearance and was momentarily speechless. The neckline of my top was much too big for her and hung off of her shoulder a bit. The hem fell past her waist, where she had tightly tied the strings of the pants so they would fit better. I didn't realize how good she would look in my clothes.

Annabeth smirked at me. "You're drooling, Seaweed Brain."

I rolled my eyes and flopped on my bed. She laid beside me.

"What do you want to do?" I asked, resting my head on my arms.

"Truth or dare?" she suggested, a spark in her fierce grey eyes.

"Sure." I sat up and leaned against my pillows, Annabeth following suit. "Truth...or dare?" I asked dramatically.

"Truth. I have nothing to hide from you."

"Okay...what were you're first ever thoughts of me? Like, during the first year or so we knew each other."

"Well, when I saw you in the woods, I thought you were an utter idiot." She smiled sheepishly, and I nudged her shoulder lightly. "But when you came to my house a while later, I thought you were pretty cool. You seemed nice and funny, and maybe you weren't as dumb as you appeared."

"Am I still all of those things?" I asked teasingly.

She nodded. "Yep. Okay, my turn. Truth or dare?"

"I'll match you with another truth," I decided.

"Why did you ask me to the Spring Fling?"

My face burned red. "Well, we were both dateless and I thought I had the least chance of getting rejected from you," I said, only telling half of the truth.

She raised an eyebrow. "You could have asked Calypso."

"No, I don't like her that way."

"But you like me that way?"

"I - uh, well, er - nope."

She threw her head back with laughter. "Good."

"I also didn't want to lead her on too much. She definitely had feelings for me and I've been trying to dull them."

"It isn't going to work," Annabeth mumbled.

"Why do you say that?"

"First of all, look at yourself. You're definitely not bad looking, and you can dress yourself well unlike half of the boys at school. You're kind, and humble, smart, funny...the list goes on. Perce, you're a catch."

I wiggled my eyebrows. "Why, thank you," I said, fanning myself.

"Don't get in your head."

"Oh, never."

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My mom stood before me, arms crossed and lips pursed. I was contemplating whether they were pursed from frustration or from trying not to smile, when she covered her face with her hands and shook with laughter.

"Percy, Percy, Percy. You kept a girl over?"

I blushed. "Mom! You know it wasn't like that!"

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Annabeth still lying peacefully on my bed. I had woken up a little early, very confused by my position. I immediately got up and rushed to set up breakfast, and, seeing my mom already on it, I broke down.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you!" I had exclaimed. She pretended to be upset before finally breaking into a fit of giggles.

"You two crack me up," Mom breathed. She continued flipping pancakes, before casually mentioning, "I went in your room this morning to grab your laundry. I took a couple pictures, would you like me to send them?"

My face felt even hotter. "Mom!"

She laughed again. I rushed to grab her phone from the counter. She blocked it with her body and we play fought over it momentarily, before I finally grasped it and rushed to the living room.

"Don't you dare delete those, Perseus!" Mom laughed, but I could still sense her seriousness.

I unlocked the iPhone using my thumbprint and went to the camera roll. There were about five pictures of Annabeth and I. We were clutching each other, both facing each other on our sides, looking as if letting go was a matter of life and death.

I blushed, shutting the phone off and setting it on the coffee table. "I'm going to go wake her up," I mumbled, fleeing the room where I was being suffocated by my mother's opinions.

Mom was adamant on telling me how Annabeth and I were destined for each other, but she didn't realize that I felt the same way. I wanted to be with Annabeth, but I didn't have the guts to go for it. I was a coward.

I sat beside Annabeth on my bed and lightly shook her awake. "Good morning."

She rubbed her eyes, her pink lips curving into a tiny smile. "Morning. Is that Sally's famous pancakes I smell?"

I chuckled, nodding. "Yup. Come on, they're going to get cold."

After a sweet breakfast with my two favorite ladies, Annabeth got dressed in a pair of my mom's leggings and my Nirvana tee shirt. She tied the shirt up a little, seeing as it would hang "unattractively" past her waist. At least, that's what she explained to me. I couldn't see how anything could be unattractive on Annabeth, but I didn't want her to feel self conscious, and I also didn't want anyone else seeing her in a more vulnerable looking state. I liked having that piece of her to myself.

We then made a quick stop at her house to grab her bag, before rushing to school for another uneventful day.

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Be honest, was that too much? I felt like I was laying the fluff on thick, but idrk...Did you like it? Spring Fling is next, so Percy better get his act together, huh? See you soon!

Credit to TaintedRain and their story It All Started With An Apple for the inspiration for the picture scene right at the end there.

P.s. I did some editing (copy and pasting lol) but all of the same scenes are there, just more evened out. (I took the beginning of chap. 25 and put it here ^)